One of the things that is both good and bad about working from home is that food is always at your fingertips.
The good thing is that it makes eating healthy meals easier. Everything is there at your fingertips to either make something fresh or heat up something healthy that you made the day before.
This also happens to be the downside of working from home. When an intense candy holiday, such as Halloween arrives, it means candy is also readily available. After eating at least a dozen “Fun Size” packages of Twix, Hot Tamales, Snickers, Three Musketeers, Milky Way and M&Ms this morning my body is HATING me and the day is only half over. Every garbage can in my house is littered with wrappers.
First pieces of evidence (nos. 1 - 6) - Office garbage
Pieces of evidence nos. 7 & 8 - Kitchen Garbage
Pieces of evidence nos. 9 & 10 - Kitchen Garbage cont.
With each piece I ate, I told myself “this is the last one”. Right! I have a HUGE sweet tooth. Unfortunately my son inherited that from me, so he has it too. Both of us have been known to eat ourselves sick on sweets. Because of this (and for our health in general), I try not to have sweets in our house on a regular basis. A few months ago after many daily conversations that started with “Mom, can I have a treat after dinner?” and ending with “No. Treats are called treats, because it’s special, it’s not meant to be eaten every day.” my son tired of this and suggested on his own that we only have treats one day a week and selected Sunday as the day. Holy smokes! I could hardly believe my ears or maintain my composure!!! But I was no fool, if my child was going to suggest such a plan, then who was I to argue? He eliminated hours of begging and arguing in one motion! And, not to mention, he secretly gave me something to abide by during the day as well. And honestly, what a smart cookie. He no longer feels the need to ask whether he can have a treat, but knows he is guaranteed a treat one day a week.
Pieces of evidence - nos. 11 - 13 - Bathroom Garbage
That was until Halloween came along.
Originally I wanted to hand out something other than candy this year. I thought it was a good idea. I was thinking glow sticks, pencils or some other fun but useful chotchskies, but that suggestion was received with blank stares. Okay, honestly I didn’t completely buy it myself and I worried about becoming the “lame” house or getting egged, so I gave in and said we could do candy under the condition that we did not open any of it before Halloween. And so it was. No one did. My son and I even had to race to open it when the first little trick-or-treater arrived. But that’s where it ended. My husband took our son out trick-or-treating and I was left to “man” the house and “hand out” candy… My process went like this: a few for them, a few for me, a few for them, a few for me… you get the picture.
Maybe this happens with everyone, or maybe just those of us with a weakness for sugar, but if I don’t eat any, I’m fine. No cravings, nothing. If I eat one, I’m done for. UNLESS, I do something as stupid as I’ve done today and literally eaten myself sick. This might be thought of as strange, but I truly think of this as a good thing. Now that I feel a little ill and my blood feels like sludge going through my veins, I want nothing more than to get myself on track, eating healthy food again.
So my mission this evening is to get my list together, get to the grocery store, fill the house with good stuff and be done with it. Now, I promised my son that we could keep the candy in the house for 1 week. I will honor that promise for him. Then it’s out of here. In the mean time, no need to worry about me because as I mentioned before if I don’t have anything I’m fine and I already ate myself sick so that pretty much kills all cravings.
The final piece of evidence - Dining Room Table
Next year, it’s glow sticks for sure! (They’re not edible, right?)
Kate
Walnuts n Pears 
Leave a Reply